Study title

Building on a previous study, this longitudinal mixed methods project aims to map and understand children’s and families’ food practices over time.The recently completed Food Practices and Employed Families with Younger Children (RES-190-25-0010) study analysed the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) and other large datasets and drew a sample of working parents and their children (n=48) from the NDNS to consider how parental employment shaped eating habits and the diets of young children and the role different settings and children themselves played. In this follow-on study, in-depth interviews with the same families will be carried out to understand: (1) how children and young people eat; (2) the contexts in their lives in which they eat; (3) the particular transitions and experiences that children and parents encounter and how these shape diets and food practices over time, including family meals. Secondary analysis of two new waves of National Diet and Nutrition Survey will also be undertaken to consider change and how family meal patterns relate to socio demographic factors and age of child.Through its innovative methodology, linking mixed methods research to a national survey, the study also seeks to contribute to furthering the exploitation of quantitative longitudinal data resources.